Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Mandevilla hybrid cultivar Pink Velvet.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mandevilla plant, botanically known as Mandevilla hybrid, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Pink Velvetxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hawthorne, Fla. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Mandevilla cultivars with attractive flower form and coloration.
The new cultivar originated from a self-pollination of the Mandevilla hybrid cultivar Alice DuPont, not patented, in Hawthorne, Fla., in 1996. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny from this self-pollination in a controlled environment in Hawthorne, Fla., in 2000. The new cultivar was selected on the basis of its flower form and flower coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Hawthorne, Fla., since spring, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Mandevilla are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Pink Velvet have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Pink Velvetxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Pink Velvetxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright vining growth habit.
2. Glossy, dark green-colored leaves.
3. Dark pink-colored flowers with imbricate petals with ruffled margins.
4. Tolerant to low and high temperatures.
Plants of the new Mandevilla are most similar to plants of the parent cultivar, xe2x80x98Alice DuPontxe2x80x99. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Hawthorne, Fla., plants of the new Mandevilla differed from plants of the cultivar Alice DuPont in the following characteristics:
1. Leaves of plants of the new Mandevilla were smaller, smoother and glossier than leaves of plants of the cultivar Alice DuPont.
2. Plants of the new Mandevilla had smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Alice DuPont.
3. Flower petals of plants of the new Mandevilla were more overlapping than flower petals of plants of the cultivar Alice DuPont.